Jack Layton Died

[Anton]

Wow that's tragic. Layton was the perfect third party leader - he did more with less than anyone in the House.

Very sad

[tonyg]

WOW on 109 seats Quebec gave 59 to NPD

I don't see where you found 109 seats, but every site about federal elections gives me 76 seats from Quebec, 58 of which the NPD won. The Bloc should just disappear now, since it's been fucking useless for the past decade, and the Liberals are only behind because they can't unite (and haven't been able to since Chretien). Conservatives are so awfully beyond the point of retardation that I'm surprised most of them didn't forget to breath and just die one day. Liberals and the NPD are the only two sound choices for leadership, but people don't read political platforms before voting, they either vote for the same party they/their parents voted their whole life or for whoever made the most bullshit promises.

[Ratatapa]

Sorry NPD has 103 seats and 59 from QC

http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/results.html

[Vandole]

no, I seriously didn't know

i have to say most of us dont know. but this does fall into the celebrity death thread...

[Thoronas]

Like so many others I was shocked to see how fast it happened. NDP hasn't even elected a new leader, I was fully expecting Layton to live long enough to give one more speech and support whoever won. It will be very interesting to see where the NDP goes from here. Layton helped garner a lot of good will and political capital, he was the one leader of the all the major parties who could actually do the door to door routine and come off well.

i have to say most of us dont know. but this does fall into the celebrity death thread...

It would if this was just about Jack Layton dying but this is about more then just him. The NDP is the official opposition party mainly because of Jack Layton's team putting him front and center and letting his charisma win people over. Now that he's gone this could other political parties a chance to take back the seats they lost to the NDP.

[Takedown3]

Why would it be irresponsible? It isn't a single man running the entire party/country, but merely the face of that party/country. The executive power doesn't have any kind of veto so his vote on an issue is worth as much as any other deputee. Sure people voted for him and not necessarily the party, but if you took your head out of your ass and looked at the big picture for once you'd see why. The man was breathing honesty, good will and good values in a time where Liberals were too busy arguing with each other to unite in a real campaign and when Conservatives had a fuckload of corruption allegations/reports coming out every few days. Citizens that aren't severely retarded won't vote for parties that A. don't give a shit about them or B. fuck them in the ass. Which is why all the prairie and backwater redneck Quebec areas voted for conservatives, and a few people in Ontario went Liberal just because.

hey bro i never said he didn't have good will and good values, i was on the fence between NDP and LIB and honestly could have voted for the NDP but i found myself asking why? because of Jack and not the rest of the party. I didn't have a good place to put either vote IMO so i voted for who i always do at every level of government LIB.

and don't worry my head is not as far in my ass as you may think it is, in fact you sound a little angry that the con's stole the show with the majority so why don't you stow the anger, and get don't mad at someone who actually takes part in the system.

as for why it's irresponsible, the same reason i didn't put my vote with NDP, i'm not behind the party. i don't know enough of the NDP to give them my confidence. i had faith that Jack could have brought the party together and made the right choices for the people but without him the figurehead, the image, the face of the NDP i believe NOW that an NDP government would fail to get anything major done.

again not that the libs could either. however i think we can both agree that harper is a twat.

[Mazmaz]

Can we mod edit this into OP

[Hyriu]

This sucks. I can definitely see Mulcair being the next leader, that's why he's not the interim leader right now since he couldn't run if he was.

[Kaylia]

ya cuz people who voted for the NDP only voted for layton and not the principles of the party

Three weeks before the election, the NDP was still far behind in the poll. The day he appeared on TV on a popular french tv show, his rating suddently skyrocketed.

Don't tell me that everyone was convinced by his idea and principles, and not by his charisma.

[Ratatapa]

Another thing that helped him

When MTL was playing against boston in the series he got an interview at a french radio and this is what happened

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsiANc95RKA

I know you can't understand french but anyway

[Mytiwar]

Three weeks before the election, the NDP was still far behind in the poll. The day he appeared on TV on a popular french tv show, his rating suddently skyrocketed.

Don't tell me that everyone was convinced by his idea and principles, and not by his charisma.

He had the smarts to go to a popular tv show so that his ideas could be heard by the masses that aren't necessarily interested in politics. He also had the courage and honesty to answer to questions he couldn't control. Not something Harper would do for example.

I prefer to have a little faith and believe it wasnt only because of his smile, but yeah.

[tonyg]

Three weeks before the election, the NDP was still far behind in the poll. The day he appeared on TV on a popular french tv show, his rating suddently skyrocketed.

Don't tell me that everyone was convinced by his idea and principles, and not by his charisma.

A lot of his charisma came from his values, which influenced heavily his ideas and principles. He came out as an honest guy who really wanted to change the way politics were handled, and for those who don't live in Canada, it's a very tough task to bring such interest in politics. We don't have the heavy amount of patriotism and love for the country that the U.S. citizens have, and with the recent years of corruption, both in Federal (Liberals AND Conservatives) and Provincial (specifically Quebec) governments. What he did is bring back faith that things could change in politics, and that honest men could govern a country. Unfortunately I fear (like many others) that since the NDP lost their voice (note I'm not saying their face), that his successor won't be able to voice the opinions of the party in such a way, and that they will suffer a heavy drawback in the next elections.

[Kaylia]

Another thing that helped him

When MTL was playing against boston in the series he got an interview at a french radio and this is what happened

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsiANc95RKA

I know you can't understand french but anyway

I take back what I said, people in Québec voted NDP because they shared Layton's ideas and beliefs where it matters.

He had the smarts to go to a popular tv show so that his ideas could be heard by the masses that aren't necessarily interested in politics. He also had the courage and honesty to answer to questions he couldn't control. Not something Harper would do for example.

I prefer to have a little faith and believe it wasnt only because of his smile, but yeah.

They all went except Harper.

I agree that his apparent honesty is the reason why people voted for him (people are fed up with politicians doing petty politics), but it doesn't make people's vote any deeper. They didn't read the platform, or watched the debate, they voted for Mr.Nice Guy who promised them heaven while taking away from evil corporation

I'm not saying that he had no merits, and I do think he had good intention (unlike many politicians), but Québec's vote was as shallow as it can be.

A lot of his charisma came from his values, which influenced heavily his ideas and principles. He came out as an honest guy who really wanted to change the way politics were handled, and for those who don't live in Canada, it's a very tough task to bring such interest in politics. We don't have the heavy amount of patriotism and love for the country that the U.S. citizens have, and with the recent years of corruption, both in Federal (Liberals AND Conservatives) and Provincial (specifically Quebec) governments. What he did is bring back faith that things could change in politics, and that honest men could govern a country. Unfortunately I fear (like many others) that since the NDP lost their voice (note I'm not saying their face), that his successor won't be able to voice the opinions of the party in such a way, and that they will suffer a heavy drawback in the next elections.

Did he really create such interest ? I can assure you that everyone I know who voted NDP (and that's pretty much everyone around me) never gave two shit about politics (before or after). In fact, I have yet to meet someone who read all 4 platforms, and can tell me anything more than what the local media hammered us with.

Harper: jet, war, give money to rich people
Duceppe: good guy, but has outlived his usefulness
Ignatieff: liberals are always the same, but he is performing better than we thought
Layton: look nicer than most politician, care about us (middle class).

Ask around, and that's what you're going to get from 99% of the voter. If you tell them to develop their idea further, they will be unable to do so.

[tonyg]

I take back what I said, people in Québec voted NDP because they shared Layton's ideas and beliefs where it matters.



They all went except Harper.

I agree that his apparent honesty is the reason why people voted for him (people are fed up with politicians doing petty politics), but it doesn't make people's vote any deeper. They didn't read the platform, or watched the debate, they voted for Mr.Nice Guy who promised them heaven while taking away from evil corporation

I'm not saying that he had no merits, and I do think he had good intention (unlike many politicians), but Québec's vote was as shallow as it can be.


Did he really create such interest ? I can assure you that everyone I know who voted NDP (and that's pretty much everyone around me) never gave two shit about politics (before or after). In fact, I have yet to meet someone who read all 4 platforms, and can tell me anything more than what the local media hammered us with.

Harper: jet, war, give money to rich people
Duceppe: good guy, but has outlived his usefulness
Ignatieff: liberals are always the same, but he is performing better than we thought
Layton: look nicer than most politician, care about us (middle class).

Ask around, and that's what you're going to get from 99% of the voter. If you tell them to develop their idea further, they will be unable to do so.

I wasn't arguing the fact that people aren't so informed about politics, but Layton's goals were what made people like him, not the way he would achieve these goals. A party platform doesn't simply what goals it wants to achieve, but the ideological position on which they stand via certain subjects. The NDP always stated the big lines they wanted to follow, and it's what most of the educated people that aren't stuck up will agree on. He proposed to help the ones who needed most help : the lesser and average income households, along with adopting a greener way of living/doing business. Of course the man is going to get a lot of followers, he was simply stating the obvious things politicians should worry about, while catering to certain publics (the poor, the minorities, the french population (as a note, it's pretty sad that I have to sort us with the poor and the minorities lol) with straightforward and low-cost ways, such as openly rooting for a Canadian team in the hockey playoffs. I sure as hell never saw Harper wearing a Habs jacket, drinking a beer at a bar with hockey fans or heck, even talking about hockey (except when he played against 12 year old kids on TV holding his stick like a complete retard).

People aren't interested in politics for two simple reasons : lack of interest and laziness. Nobody is gonna read the party platforms, even in their abbreviated form, for every party because they stereotype the groups based on what they heard and prefer to stick with those ideas than actually go confirm what their position is on an issue.

[Cantih]

Hell, my condolences Canada, and my hopes that your politics don't backslide.

[Mytiwar]

Hell, my condolences Canada, and my hopes that your politics don't backslide.

Oh we've been backpedaling for a while already. What's with the newest change in the name of our armies back to Royal canadian navy and Royal canadian airforce. A bit obscure I know but why do something useful when you can pretend you're working by renaming stuff back to what it was before 1968.

[Takedown3]

we already backslided into a conservative majority not much further we can backslide

[Kaylia]

What kind of terrible thing happened since the conservative were elected?

[Takedown3]

libs and ndp started crying more?

[Kaylia]

And that's why I have hard time taking conservative bashing seriously.